Emily was sorry Lonnie had fallen in love with her. She wondered if she had done anything to encourage the attraction, if she could have done anything to help him get over it. She was sure it was just infatuation, or the fact that she was the only single woman of marriageable age within fifty miles.
Lonnie had hidden her horse in a mesquite thicket. She was seated on a blanket on the ground, her hands tied behind her back. She guessed it was close to noon. Lonnie had made coffee and was heating some antelope stew. Two quarters of antelope covered with a sheet to keep the flies off hung from tree branches. A sack of potatoes, a side of bacon, coffee, even cans of tomatoes and peaches indicated the site had been stocked over a period of time and was well used.
“How did you get all this stuff here?” Emily asked. “Bertie knows everything in her larder down to the last coffee bean.”
“This is where the two men I had working for me stayed. They’d just stocked up again before your friends caught them.”
“Why did you try to steal our calves?” Emily asked. “Dad and I trusted you.”
Lonnie looked up from stirring the stew. “I didn’t try to steal anything.”
“You were putting your brand on our calves so all you had to do was wait until they were old enough to be sold; then you could claim the brand and the cows and no one would know you were stealing them.”
Lonnie’s gaze became more intense. “I wasn’t stealing. I registered the brand in your name.”
At first Emily didn’t believe him. It didn’t make any sense to take that kind of risk. But when Lonnie’s gaze didn’t waver, when his expression remained open and lacking in any trace of guilt or anger, she started to wonder.
“You’ll have to offer a better explanation than that if you expect me to believe you.”
“All you have to do is ask that man staying at the ranch.”
The bottom fell out of Emily’s stomach. For a moment she thought she was going to be physically sick. How could Bret have done such a thing? Why would he have done it? Every plan, hope, and dream came tumbling down around her like the skeleton of a building after a single, devastating lightning strike.
“What are you talking about?” she asked when she was finally able to get the words past the constriction in her throat.
“He wrote me from Boston. He said you were dead set against going there after your father died and wanted to know what would make you change your mind. I didn’t know what he had in mind, but I said losing the ranch would probably do it. That’s when he hired me to rustle your herd.”
“He paid you money to steal from me? We trusted you, Lonnie. We liked you. How could you do that?”
“I didn’t steal from you. I just made it look that way. He didn’t really want you to go to Boston. He just wanted control of your father’s piece of his company. I knew you didn’t love me, but I figured if you thought you were losing the ranch, you would turn to me to save it for you. It would be only natural for us to get married after I stopped the rustling. He’d have what he wanted—I didn’t think it would be hard to convince you to turn that part of your inheritance over to him—and I’d have what I wanted. You and the ranch.”
It all made sense. She’d wondered why Bret had agreed to the compromise so readily when his uncle had told him not to return without her. From the beginning, he’d wanted just one thing—control of her shares in Abbott & Abercrombie—and both she and her father had been willing to hand it over. Bret probably wouldn’t be at the ranch when she returned.
Dozens of questions hurtled through her mind, each more terrible than the one before it. Bret had organized an incredibly elaborate plot and had carried through every part of it with aplomb. Everybody believed him. Everybody liked him. And she’d fallen in love with him. What was she going to do now?
Feeling overwhelmed, she broke down and started crying.
Bret forced himself to keep his horse at a fast canter by constantly reminding himself he didn’t want to catch up with Emily, just make certain she reached Ida’s safely. Only he did want to catch up to her. He wanted to hold her, to kiss her, to make love to her until she couldn’t think of anything except being with him for the rest of their lives. Until she could forget she’d ever thought he could betray her.
He tried to keep from dwelling on those thoughts. He knew she was upset by the will, both by its contents and the fact that her father had changed it without talking to her. He knew that having so many people she barely knew invade her life was bound to cause confusion, especially with the rustling and her father’s death. Yet none of the things he told himself could ease the hurt, the pain of knowing she didn’t trust him.
He tried to force himself to concentrate on following her trail, but that didn’t take one-tenth of his concentration. The hoofprints of her horse were clear—and so were those of another horse. He wondered why one of the cowhands would be using this trail, but since the hoofprints were practically on top of each other, it was clear that the two riders hadn’t been riding together. Bret could also tell from the prints that the horses were traveling at a slow canter. Emily should come into sight well before mid-morning.
He hadn’t decided what to do once he knew she’d arrived at Ida’s. He needed to return to Boston as quickly as possible, but he couldn’t leave without seeing Emily once more. He also needed to see Jake and Isabelle, but he didn’t want to do that until he had left Boston for good. He didn’t want to go back to the ranch today. He had nothing to say to Joseph and didn’t want to hear what Zeke and Hawk would say to him. Maybe he’d camp out along the trail and wait for Emily to return.
He’d noticed that the footprints of the second horse had changed paths, but he didn’t attach any importance to the change until he noticed that both horses had stopped. When the trail of both horses turned sharply to the right and headed cross-country, Bret became concerned. Why would Emily leave the trail, even if she was riding with one of her hands? She’d been late starting. She wouldn’t reach Ida’s until dusk as it was.
Bret turned his horse and followed. Curiosity turned to concern and then fear as their trail led toward the northern limits of the ranch. Bret could think of no reason for Emily to ride this far from her intended destination unless she was being forced.
Lonnie.
He was in love with Emily. He’d taken a tremendous risk when he organized the rustling in hopes of getting her to marry him. He wouldn’t have wanted to leave without a chance to see her one more time. Bret was certain Emily wouldn’t have gone with him willingly. She had been kidnapped. Bret didn’t believe Lonnie would hurt Emily, but he knew how desperate a man in love could be. He had to find them, and soon.
If Bret hadn’t been looking for it, he might have missed the barely noticeable trail of smoke rising out of a large thicket of trees and visible against the pure white of a cloud low on the horizon. He rode to where the land fell off toward a small stream. He dismounted and ran along the bottom of the ridge, hoping Lonnie didn’t happen to be looking in his direction. Thickets of willow tangled by berry canes and wild grape vines provided cover until he reached the edge of the trees. Hoping he wouldn’t disturb any birds or small mammals and give himself away, Bret carefully parted some oak branches.
A small fire burned inside a circle of stones. He could make out Emily seated on the ground, her hands tied behind her, but he didn’t see Lonnie. Certain he was somewhere close, Bret gradually worked his way through the thicket until he was close enough to Emily to whisper, “This is Bret. I’m right behind you. Where is Lonnie?” He was prepared for Emily to be startled, but not for the anger of her pinched mouth or the hurt in her eyes when she twisted around to face him.
“Why are you trying to sneak in?” she demanded. “I’m sure Lonnie’s been expecting you.”
Confused by her attitude and her words, Bret looked around, expecting to see Lonnie pointing a rifle at him. “Keep your voice down,” he whispered urgently. “Where is Lonnie? How soon will he be back? It won’t take but
a minute to untie you.”
“Lonnie!” Emily called out. “Your partner is looking for you.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Bret said, frantically looking around.
“I know all about your scheme, so you can stop pretending. There’s coffee on the fire. Help yourself while you wait for Lonnie.”
“I don’t know what’s gotten into your head,” Bret said as he crawled toward Emily, intent on untying her and getting away before Lonnie returned, “but we can figure it out later. Right now we have to—”
“Right now you have to stop where you are.”
Bret turned to see Lonnie standing not ten feet away, his rifle pointed at him.
“It’s Bret,” Emily said. “Surely you were expecting your partner.”
“Joseph Abbott is the man who wrote me,” Lonnie said. “He warned me this man would try to make you fall in love with him so he could steal your ranch.”
Chapter Twenty-three
Emily swallowed hard. She didn’t need any more proof than the expression on Bret’s face to know she’d leaped to the wrong conclusion. “But you said . . . I thought—”
“You thought I’d pay your own foreman to steal your cows and kidnap you,” Bret said.
“Lonnie wasn’t stealing my cows,” Emily said. She felt so shocked, so mortified, so stupid, she could hardly think. “He was only pretending to so I’d beg him to save my ranch and then marry him out of gratitude. Joseph didn’t want me to go to Boston. He just wanted control of my shares in Abbott and Abercrombie.”
Bret’s expression didn’t change. “It doesn’t matter what he was really doing. What matters is that you thought I’d have any part in it.”
“I didn’t want to, but when he said he was hired by that man at my house—”
“You automatically thought of me,” Bret finished for her.
“I haven’t thought of anybody but you in days,” Emily threw at him. “Why should it be any different now?”
She didn’t know why she’d never thought of Joseph as being capable of doing anything like this. Maybe because she’d met him years ago and liked him. Maybe because he seemed more like an annoyance than a danger. With Bret, Hawk, and Zeke around, who would think of Joseph as posing a problem? Still, she should have believed in Bret. She should have believed in herself enough to know she couldn’t love a man who would do what Joseph had done.
“I’d never have believed any of this about you if it hadn’t been for the will,” she said.
“What about the will?” Lonnie asked. Neither he nor Bret had moved.
“Dad left control of my inheritance and half of the ranch to Bret,” Emily said.
“I saw the will myself,” Lonnie said. “Everything goes to you.”
“He made a new will just before he died,” Bret said. “If you don’t believe us, you can ask your boss. He was there when I read the will.”
“Did you see it?” Lonnie asked Emily.
“Yes. There’s no question Dad wrote it.”
“I’ll bet you witnessed it,” Lonnie said, waving his rifle at Bret.
“He didn’t know anything about it,” Emily said. “Zeke and Hawk witnessed it.”
“His own brothers,” Lonnie said with a sneer. “How can you believe he didn’t know anything about it? I bet he planned it.”
“It was Sam’s decision,” Bret said before turning to Emily.
“You can’t believe anything he says,” Lonnie protested.
“Then who is she supposed to believe?” Bret asked. “You’ve already admitted to plotting against her with Joseph. I was honest with Emily and her father from the beginning.”
“It doesn’t make any difference,” Lonnie protested.
“Maybe not, but the plan you hatched with Joseph is useless now,” Emily said. “Bret has control of the stock, half the ranch, and all my money. There’s no point in your marrying me now.”
“But I love you,” Lonnie said.
“I’m never going to marry you, so you might as well let us go,” Emily told him.
“He’ll try to get me hanged,” he said, pointing to Bret.
“You’ll certainly hang if you kidnap Emily or kill me,” Bret said.
Emily could tell that Lonnie was undecided, but he kept his rifle on Bret.
“I’m going to untie Emily,” Bret said, moving toward her as he spoke. “Point that rifle somewhere else.”
“You’ll get away.”
“That would be better than you shooting Emily by mistake,” Bret said. He wasted no time in untying Emily and helping her to her feet. “Now put the rifle down,” he said as he moved away from her. “Don’t make things any worse.” He had moved around the opening in the trees until Lonnie was between him and Emily, making it impossible for Lonnie to keep his eye on both of them at the same time.
“Put the rifle away, Lonnie,” Emily said. “If you don’t, I’ll take it from you.”
The moment Lonnie half turned toward Emily, Bret launched himself at Lonnie. The rifle went off and both men went down in a tangle. Emily held her breath until she was certain both men were fighting much too hard to have been injured. She was afraid that Lonnie was stronger than Bret. She picked up the rifle, intending to hit Lonnie over the head with it. To her surprise, when she looked up, Bret was pounding Lonnie with such rapid and powerful jabs her ex-foreman was reeling. One last blow to the jaw sent Lonnie tumbling to the ground.
“That last one was for Emily,” Bret said. “If you ever touch her again, I’ll break every bone in your body.”
Emily thought that was one of the nicest things Bret had ever said.
“Pack your things and leave this house immediately,” Emily said to Joseph. “I don’t want to see you ever again. After all the letters we’ve exchanged, I can’t believe you’d lie to me.”
“I never lied to you,” Joseph protested. “I still don’t trust Bret. Lonnie wasn’t trying to steal your cows, only scare you into being sensible and coming to Boston where my father could take care of your inheritance and my mother could take care of you.”
“You didn’t want me, just my shares in the company.”
“The situation would have been advantageous to everybody. Handing everything over to Bret was a horrible mistake. It’ll be a disaster. You just wait and see.”
It was pointless to talk to Joseph. Nothing anybody could say had been able to convince him he’d done anything wrong. On the contrary, he acted as though he were the one who’d been mistreated.
“I’ll take my chances,” Emily said. “I can’t believe I didn’t see through you.”
“People like Joseph only show their true colors when something important is at stake,” Bret said. “In this case it was control of the family firm.”
“I don’t want to have to think of Abbott and Abercrombie ever again,” Emily said to Bret. “I’m glad Dad left control of the shares to you. I’d much rather think about my ranch—at least my half of it.”
“How many times do I have to say I’m leaving control of my half to you? I’ll be happy with anything the three of you decide.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Hawk said with a grin.
“Everybody knows you two know more about ranches than I do.”
“You could change that,” Zeke said.
“First things first,” Bret said. “Emily wants to talk to you about finding a new foreman.”
“One of us can stay here, and one of us can leave with Bret for Fort Worth,” Hawk said. “We ought to be able to find somebody there or in Dallas. You sure you don’t want to prosecute Lonnie?” he asked Emily.
“I’m sure. He’d never have thought of trying to force me to marry him if it hadn’t been for Joseph.”
“What about the two who were doing the branding?”
“Let them go.”
“I guess that’s all we need to know,” Zeke said.
“Which one of you is going with me in the morning?” Bret asked.
Zeke and Hawk each pointed at the other and said, “He is.”
Bret laughed. “You two fight it out between you. In the meantime, I need to talk to Emily.”
Emily’s heart seemed to jump into her throat. She followed Bret outside, and he led her to the spot on the side of the hill where he’d kissed her. The night seemed extraordinarily quiet. There was no wind to stir the trees or bend the grass. Stars filled the sky while clouds floated silently overhead. The usual sounds of the night were absent—not even a cow lowing softly to her calf. The whole world seemed to be waiting to hear what Bret would say. She didn’t want to hear it.
He was leaving.
She didn’t know how she was going to stand it. Maybe some women died of a broken heart, but she was certain she wouldn’t be so fortunate. Fifty years from now she’d probably be standing on this hill, remembering how he’d held her in his arms, how he’d kissed her, how she’d thought the rest of her life would be perfect because he would be at her side.
“I love this spot.” Bret waved his arm to indicate the wide expanse of Texas prairie spreading out before them. “It’s the one place on this ranch that reminds me of Jake and Isabelle’s spread.”
“You were truly happy there, weren’t you?”
“Yes, but I was too eaten up by bitterness to understand what they were offering me. I couldn’t forget what had happened to my parents, to me. I couldn’t stop wanting to do something to even the score.”
“Will you be able to even the score when you go back?”
He turned to look at her. “I’ve finally realized that’s impossible. I can’t undo what was done, and nothing else would make any difference.”
She warned herself not to leap to any conclusions, but his words offered hope. “Then why are you going back?”
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